MAAs
Introduction MAA stands for minor-attracted-adult or minor-attracted-adolescent. MAAs are attracted either primarily or exclusively to minors. This includes paedosexuals, ephebosexuals and nepiosexuals. (See terminology.) Being an MAA does not suggest an action, rather it describes a sexual orientation; most do not act on their attraction. Goals * To explain the difference between MAAs and the people who sexually abuse children * To provide people with information regarding our sexual orientation * To promote a degree of understanding regarding an attraction to minors Realities This section explores the realities of attraction to minors. *'Most child molesters are ''not paedosexuals.' Contrary to popular belief, approximately 80 to 90 percent of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by 'situational offenders' - teleiophiles who use substitute children for adult partners, while not actually preferring them. (For demographic sources, see quote section.) Situational offenders tend to be stressed men who do not have access to someone their own age. Likewise, '''most paedosexuals do not abuse children.' It's clearly unfair to attribute these crimes to all MAAs. *'Paedosexuality is not uncommon.' Studies investigating the prevalence of MAAs have found that at least quarter of all men may experience paedosexual attraction. (For sources, see Frequency of MAAs.) Famous MAAs include Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, Robert Baden-Powell, Lewis Carroll, and Edgar Allan Poe. (see Famous MAAs.) Many males may also exhibit an nonexclusive attraction to minors. *'Many MAAs are married.' Many MAAs are married to adult partners (both heterosexual and homosexual). Concerns about the "single scoutmaster" are based on myths rather than facts. *'Not all MAAs are men.' While the majority of paedosexuals are male, some women are also MAAs. (Please add more facts.) Quotes First, Kenneth V. Lanning is a Supervisory Special Agent at the Behavioral Science Unit at the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime,http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_rep03.htm a division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.http://www.fbi.gov/hq/isd/cirg/ncavc.htm Lanning, an 'expert in the sexual victimization of children'http://www.academy-group.com/Associates%20Page.htm, had been a Special Agent with the FBI for more than 30 yearshttp://www.academy-group.com/Lanning.htm and had "extensive experience consulting on multi-victim, multi-perpetrator child sexual abuse cases."http://www.reidwriting.com/images/PDF7.pdf *"About 90 percent child molesters are so-called "situational child molesters" who capitalize on opportunities to molest children but don't necessarily prefer sex with children ... The 10 percent of child molesters who make up the second category are the bona fide "pedophiles," those who genuinely favor sex with children." *:Kenneth Lanning (2001). "Profile of a Pedophile," 2001 interview by the Valley Advocate's JoAnn DiLorenzo with Lanning. (online: http://old.valleyadvocate.com/articles/pedophile.html) *"Of child sex offenders from 1990 to 1995, only ... 14.8% of the total ... had been identified as paedophiles or suspected paedophiles." *:Joint submission from the Northern Territory Government and Police, 9 March 1995, p. 4. Cited by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority. *"The most striking finding was that virtually none of the incest offenders showed sexual preferences for children." *:"Research on Sex Offenders: What do we Know?," Correctional Services of Canada (online: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/forum/e01/e011i_e.shtml). For this, they cite: Marshall, W L., & Barbaree, H. E. (1984). A behavioral view of rape. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 7, 51-77. (Vol.2). New York: Pergamon. Studies Frequency of MAAs In a 1995 study investigating paedosexuality's frequency, 80 normal males were shown pedophilic stimuli. 33% exhibited sexual arousal exceeding or equaling their arousal to adult stimuli. Most experienced at least some arousal to the child slides. (Hall et al. 1995) A 2002 meta-analysis of studies surveying the "frequency of paederotic orientations paedosexuality within the general populace" concluded that "30% of males and 5% of females can be said to be of paederotic orientation within the general populace."http://www.glgarden.org/tlttm/meta.htm Aside from Hall et al., data was also taken from: *Person, E., Terestman, N., Myers, W., Goldberg, E., & Salvadori, C. (1989). "Gender differences in sexual behaviors and fantasies in a college population," Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 15, 187-198. *Briere, J., & Runtz, M. (1989). University males' sexual interest in children: Predicting potential indices of "pedophilia" in a nonforensic sample. Child Abuse and Neglect, 13, 65-75. *Smiljanich, K. and Briere, J. (1996) "Self-reported sexual interest in children: Sex differences and psychosocial correlates in a university sample." Violence & Victims, 11(1), 39-50. Genetic transmission/neurological cause This is a list of studies evidencing genetic or neurological causes of paedosexuality/nepiosexuality. *Gaffney, G. R.; Lurie, S. F.; Berlin, Fred S. (1984). "Is There Familial Transmission of Pedophilia?," Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 172, 546-548. *:ABSTRACT: A naturalistic, double-blind, family history comparison of sexual deviancy in the first degree relatives of inpatients with pedophilia and nonpedophilic paraphilia was done. Both proband groups were similar in demographic characteristics, except that pedophiles had a later onset of illness and were older during hospitalization. All patients were men. Sexual deviancy was found in 18.5 per cent of the families of paraphiliacs; only 3 per cent of a psychiatric control group had a family member with sexual deviancy. The preponderance of affected relatives were men. The types of sexual deviancy found in the families of the groups differed. Sexual deviancy among the pedophiles' families consisted of pedophilia. In families of nonpedophilic paraphiliacs, sexual deviancy was predominantly a paraphilia not involving children. These data suggest that pedophilia is familial; however, further studies are needed to delineate the manner of transmission. Nonetheless, pedophilia is found more frequently in families of pedophiles than in families of nonpedophilic paraphiliacs. This indicates specificity in the familial transmission. Thus pedophilia may be independent of the other paraphilias. *Freund, Kurt; Blanchard, Ray (1993). "Erotic Target Location Errors in Male Gender Dysphorics, Paedophiles, and Fetishists," British Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 560-561. **Freund (1994) summarizes: "A patient whose pedophilia may have been due to genetic transmission was described in an earlier study... He had four brothers, one of them, his twin, is most likely also pedophilic (see original study). Among the three older brothers, two started approaching him sexually when he was 10 years old. I saw both in adulthood when they were charged for pedophilic offenses." *Cantor, James M.; Klassen, P. E.; Dickey, R.; Christensen, B. K.; Kuban, M. E.; Blak, T.; Williams, N. S.; & Blanchard, R. (2005). "Handedness in pedophilia and hebephilia," Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 447–459. **Lindsay Ashford explains: "They discovered that fully 30% of those whose primary sexual interest was in children younger than twelve years old were left-handed. This figure is three times higher than the occurrence of left-handedness in society in general and of sex offenders who were primarily attracted to adults. The study also found a weak link between left-handedness and hebephilia, or the attraction to adolescents ... Whilst this study is by no means conclusive in proving a neurological link to pedophilia, it certainly does raise the very strong possibility that there is one. Dr. Cantor and his team have suggested that neurological factors, perhaps during pregnancy, may contribute along with other factors to the occurrence of pedophilia." *Dressing H.; Obergriesser T.; Tost H.; Kaumeier S.; Ruf M.; Braus D. F. (2001). "Homosexuelle Pädophilie und funktionelle Netzwerke - fMRI-Fallstudie" (Homosexual Pedophilia and Functional Networks - An fMRI Case Report and Literature Review). Fortschritte der Neurologie-psychiatrie, 69(11), 539-544. (German) *:ABSTRACT: Pedophilia is a complex bio-psycho-social disorder often associated with serious offending. Knowledge about neurobiological correlates that could serve as diagnostic and maybe even as prognostic markers is limited. FMRI examination, which shows neuronal activation in vivo and therefore represents a neurobiological correlate, was not done in pedophilia so far. We report on results of an fMRI examination in a homosexual pedophilic sex offender who differed significantly in neuronal activation during exposure to arousing visual material (young boys in underwear) from normal controls. In self assessment on a visual analogous scale the pedophilic offender scored the pictures of the boys as not being interesting and sexually not stimulating. Nevertheless presentation of the pictures of the boys resulted in the pedophilic offender in a significant activation of the attention network and the right orbitofrontal cortex. In contrast to the controls there was no activation of left hemispheric areas relevant for speech. The study design will be continued in a larger sample to examine whether there is a possible neurobiological correlate of pedophilia which can be changed by therapeutic interventions. *Comings (1993) needs review. Terminology *'Paedosexuality:' a sexual orientation focused on prepubescent children. (synonymous with 'paedophilia;' coined by Krafft-Ebing) *'Ephebosexuality:' a sexual orientation focused on pubescent minors. (synonymous with 'ephebophilia;' probably coined by Bernard Glueck) *'Nepiosexuality:' a sexual orientation focused on toddlers. (synonymous with 'nepiophilia') *'Teleiophilia:' a sexual orientation focused on adults. (coined by Kurt Freund) Category:Civil rights